Tuesday, July 16, 2013

For me the Brutale has always played second fiddle to the other Italian Streetfighter (and no it's not Rocky Balboa), but not this one. One in fact is the name of this modern custom developed by the crew at GP Design Workshop. Taking a stock Brutale 800 and turning it into somewhat of a modern day chariot ready to be ridden around the colosseum sideways and on the back wheel.

Just like the chariots of the ancient times this one also looks like it comes with a few horses although official numbers have not yet been released. What is stated though is that it's the first motorcycle with all apple devices integrated.

The dash is an IPad - Mini with a purpose written application to power the tach and speedo and a number of other elements. This would also allow onboard GPS, and the rider to have a quick game of Candy Crush while waiting in traffic. Gone are the traditional mirror, these have been replaced with iPods with cameras.

There are a couple of other non-tech touches such as the Aluminium tank and tail, Rizoma componentry, spoked wheels, USD forks and a custom billet triple pull everything together.

I like this bike, I like the design of it, I like the idea of it, the juxtaposition between past, present and future, but whenever there is an attempt to integrate technology specifically for a single vendor for me the shelf life always halves. They may have had a solution for this but by the time the bike is released it will be out dated by new hardware, give it two years and your ipad dash and mirrors may look like a couple of bricks.

This bike is a limited edition of only 19, and I would still wouldn't mind adding this to the collection.